Fan Girl SQUEE!

It's events, such as what happened this evening that make me so happy that I have a blog so the I can say things like, "This is SO going in my blog!" (Name that TV reference anyone for a virtual high-five).

Let me give a little background information first off:

There are those that follow the Yankees or Red Sox, the NFL, or even golf as though their lives depended on it.  The closest thing I have to that is my following of the US Women's National Team (WNT).  I'm on the US Soccer website two-six times a day checking for team updates.  Thus, as one might imagine, I'm fairly familiar with the players and their names.

Second, as readers of my blog and corespondents of Karen Lou know I am training with the W-league team the Seattle Sounders.  This team is part of an organization called United Soccer Leagues (USL) that has men's and women's teams across the country ranging from the Super-Y league (which governs teams U-19 and down, I think), to the U-20 League, to the Premire Development League (PDL), to the W-League.

The divisions like the U-20s and W-League are structured so that players who are still in school (i.e. College) can play with other quality players at a competetive level without losing his or her NCAA eligability.  Yes, ones NCAA eligability can be lost through sponsorships given to an athlete or payment for their sporting skills.  So, for example all the college enlisted athletes competing in the olympics this August are getting paid zilch for their efforts.

However, in regards to my affiliation with the Sounders the key-word  mentioned earlier is training, because I can not see how at any point in the near future that I will make the roaster so that I might have a chance of seeing game time.  This is by no means a put down of my abilities.  I know that I am a good keeper, but I can safely say that the starting keeper for the Sounders, a member of the U-23 Women's National Team, is better.

Yep.  The two goalies who I've been training with since I started going to these training sessions, who are also ridiculously good, are not even the starter.  I think the starting goalie has been off at some national team training camp and has not been able to show up, the slacker.

That being said, the way the roster is picked for each game is that in addition to the 18+ women that got recruited to play with the Sounders personally by the Coach, additional players are picked from the group of 23-30 players who perform well in training sessions.  

Needless to say I have not been picked.  So while I would not be joining the team on the bench during tonight's game, having never seen the Sounders play before (They have been on the road since I arrived in Seattle), I did decide to attend the game as a fan.

So this W-league features some of the best women soccer players in US and sometimes internationally (Example: a couple Brazilian players from the team that beat the WNT this past world cup are playing for a NY team, and Christine Sinclair of Canada is player in the league as well).  And in tonight's match of the Seattle Sounders vs Pali Blue of LA featured India Trotter and Denisha Adams.  Both of whom play on the U-23 national team but also have a couple of CAPs from the full national team, and oh yeah, both are no older than 22.   

But I digress...again.  My point being that as I was in the bleachers of the stadium playing with my phone at the end of the game, I glance up and do a double take because I realized that Stephanie Cox, a defender on the WNT, is all but three risers below me.

Being the uber fangirl and creeper that I am, I turned my already opened phone on to the camera option, and snap off a few shots.

  

Not satisfied with my paparazzi-esq antics, when she and her husband made their way down the bleachers to leave the stadium (and incidentally to meet up with Trotter and Adams, both of whom Cox came to see play), I chased her down and congratulated her on her and the WNT's victory in the Peace Queen Cup in North Korea, about a week ago.  

I may have sounded half crazed and flustered, while she had and worried looking smile on her face when I knew who she was and she didn't have a damn clue who I was, but it was SO AWESOME.

Stay classy friends and family!

Cheers

~Abby~